


Loving Stupidly in the Ruins

by Feztopus



Series: Loving Stupidly in the Ruins [1]
Category: Castlevania (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Jealousy, Love Triangles, Other, Pining, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22786699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feztopus/pseuds/Feztopus
Summary: Cleaning up leaves a lot of brain power free to think and have feelings, and Alucard is having quite a lot of feelings. Luckily for him, so is everyone else in this castle and someone will have to say something eventually.I arbitrarily challenged myself to write a thing from Alucard's perspective and it got very out of hand.
Relationships: Alucard | Adrian Tepes | Arikado Genya/Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades
Series: Loving Stupidly in the Ruins [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1657957
Comments: 12
Kudos: 165





	1. Chapter 1

“All this, in the name of love.” Alucard looked out over the battlefield formerly known as castle Dracula with a lump in his throat and a broom in his hand.

“People have done things as stupid in the name of lesser loves, Alucard.” Sypha placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. 

_ “Have they?!”  _

“Well - they didn’t have the power to make it this many other people’s problem but… I think the level of stupidity compares.”

“Sypha you’re going to have to give us an example.” Trevor had dug a wheelbarrow out from somewhere and had set about dispassionately loading it up with pieces of… ‘debris’ too big to sweep up. Sypha took only a moment to think before launching into a tale.

“So. There’s a story of these two young people. They’re from noble families who have a generations long feud, but they meet at a party and are so immediately smitten with each other that they get secretly married - I can see the face you’re pulling Trevor, do you mind? - and then the one kills the other’s cousin in a fight so he gets banished from the city. And the other’s parents are pressuring her to marry someone else and instead of just running away or something, she takes a potion that makes her seem to be dead temporarily, and the night she’s interred her lover comes back to town to find her and poisons himself because he can’t bear to live without this girl he’s known for two weeks, she wakes up from the potion, sees he’s died and stabs herself.  _ That’s _ stupid.” She put her hands on her hips.

“Is it  _ true _ though?” 

“All stories are true in some sense.” She said snippily, rolling her eyes at Trevor.

“I can’t believe you’re trying to give us a lesson in Speaker philosophies when we’re literally clearing up corpses”

“It is about as stupid as they could possibly be with that amount of influence.” Alucard interjected, before they could get up a really good head of steam on this argument. “So it does at least somewhat compare to father trying to end the world I feel.”

“Alright, if it works I suppose I’ll let her off.” Trevor grumbled.

By dinner time they’d managed to clear everything they could out of the castle’s entrance hall and measure for the replacement carpet. Alucard led the way downstairs to the kitchen where he’d set some stew to simmer away earlier. He took the opportunity to play the gracious host as though they were gathered for some normal reason, rather than in the aftermath of a patricide.

He laid the table with fine silverware and glasses, fetched a bottle of good wine, and served dinner with a flourish that would have been fit for the grand dining room upstairs, had it been in any state to use.

They ate quietly for a while before talk turned back to romance.

“That story you told us… do you think love can really blind people to what’s sensible that much?” Trevor was musing. Sypha shrugged.

“You’ve never done something silly for love, Trevor?”

“I mean… nothing that turned out to have really been what I’d call ‘Love’ I suppose. Might’ve overstayed my welcome a few places for a pretty face or uh… particular talents but that’s more infatuation, right?”

“I find it a little hard to believe anyone would give you room in their bed.” Alucard sniffed.

“And I bet you’ve had acres of lovers while growing up alone in a vampire’s castle.”

“Trevor!” Sypha smacked him on the arm.

“I may not have had  _ so many  _ years to do it in, Belmont, but I have had lovers.” Alucard knew he was blushing but tried to set his jaw firmly and not look like a petulant youth.

“Lover _ s _ plural!” Trevor squawked. “You, the iceman!?” It was possible he was taking the jibe about his age a little hard.

“Stop it Trevor, be nice. Alucard, did you ever fall in love with anyone?” Sypha adopted a softer tone to distract from the bickering.

“No I - my parents moved me from school to school fairly frequently, I didn’t usually get much chance to settle in.”

“All classmates? But you never did anything stupid for any of them?” Trevor was a little more polite for having been admonished, but not much. 

“And a couple of local village girls. Since the stupidest thing I could have done was get caught and I didn’t - I don’t think there’s any story to tell.” Alucard knew his tone sounded tense but he was aware both of the humans in the room were very focused on him, and it made him feel… prickly. 

"What about you, Sypha?" he asked, slightly too quickly. 

"We moved around so much, you know? And when everyone knows you're just passing through they take the opportunity to try things out sometimes. So it’s not really any kind of situation for falling in love.” she sipped her wine and smiled. “I tried to run away from the caravan to go back to someone once.” She said, “She was very nice about it - as much as you can be when you’re telling someone it was just a fling - but ugh I was so embarrassed. I was crazy about her then, but it’s like all that was nothing compared to what I’ve seen since Gresit.” She smiled at Trevor, then Alucard, with her eyes shining. 

Alucard was at a loss for words. 

“Mm.” He hoped it sounded like a considered and thoughtful answer but - ‘since Gresit’ - what could she possibly mean ‘since Gresit’. The only time they’d spent not in immediate mortal danger between Gresit and Father’s death was in the hold, exploring the Belmont family collection- oh. Belmont. That was. Hm.

Sypha yawned and stretched, wiggling to try and loosen the tension of a day’s hard labour.

“We should get some rest, plenty more to do tomorrow! Do you think we should just follow the path of destruction?”

“That would seem to be the most straightforward approach. And we should all get as much rest as we can.” Alucard looked significantly at Trevor, who scowled in response. 

“You know Belmonts aren’t morning people don’t you Alucard, there’s a reason we dedicated ourselves to fighting creatures of the night.” He curled himself in over his wine cup. 

“Neither are vampires  _ typically _ , you idiot, but it’s easier to see the bloodstains we need to clean in daylight.” Alucard knew he was angrier than Trevor’s behaviour warranted, but the way his heart was pounding at the sight of Alucard’s bared teeth was rather gratifying. Trevor of course, tried to cover his reaction with surliness.

“Alright alright,  _ Christ _ , can I finish my drink before you force me to bed like a naughty child?”

“I’ve seen you drink twice as much in one mouthful, Belmont.” 

Trevor frowned at him as he emptied his cup. 

“Bed then.” he said, standing up and moving in between Alucard and Sypha.

The three of them proceeded in sullen silence to the bedrooms they’d moved into for the time being, three on the same corridor, each with a fireplace and a huge bed. Not that Alucard was sleeping particularly, since his long nap, but it seemed like his companions found it a comfort to think that he was. 

“Well, good night then.” Sypha said as they reached her door. She sighed and looked at them both with her mouth drawn into a tense little line. “Sleep well.” and she disappeared through the door. Alucard heard her let out a big sigh and there was a ‘flump’ as she dropped on to her bed.

“He started it.” Trevor muttered to himself. Alucard tensed but stopped himself responding, and chose to pretend he hadn’t heard it. He turned his back on Trevor and walked to his own bedroom door. 

“Goodnight Belmont.” And he closed the door behind him. He had no reason to care what Trevor did, but regardless he was listening out for his movements. He heard him sigh, and swear to himself. Shuffle into his room, throw the bedding around, grumble to himself. 

Alucard couldn’t think why Trevor’s behaviour got to him so much, but every expression of insolence made him bristle, made his fingers itch to reach out and grab him. 

What could Sypha possibly see in him? If it was just a reaction to him being the only human around, what she’d said in the kitchen didn’t really make sense. She was so clever, and funny, competent, and powerful, and… so it would be natural to be jealous of the man she’d chosen over him. 

Alucard had been in bed with a book, enjoying the hours of quiet the others’ sleep allowed him, when he heard Sypha’s door open and shuffling in the hallway. A knock on Trevor’s door, a moment of quiet, another knock;

“Trevor open up!” Finally the sound of his door opening and Sypha shuffling inside. A soft thud noise that Alucard could only imagine was someone being hit with a pillow, followed by giggling.

He was not about to sit through this. He bundled his blanket and his book under his arm and swept out of his room. He’d go hide in the small library or something, and hope they weren’t doing what he thought they were.

He slipped down to the kitchen at dawn to clean up from last night and prepare breakfast. The process of scrubbing plates and cups was better than having to think. He cooked, prepared the herbal tisane that Sypha liked to have in the mornings, and sat down with one of his own to eat. He was relieved when Sypha and Trevor arrived, much as he was also disappointed that they were giggling together arm in arm. 

“Oh Alucard, thank you for making breakfast!” Sypha said as she took a seat and grabbed her drink. “Ah, this is the perfect temperature too.” She smiled at him and it made him feel like he was the only person she ever wanted to look at.

“Bacon, nice!” Trevor said, utterly destroying the illusion. 

Alucard sat while they ate, tense and quiet. Sypha kept looking at him from under her fringe, and he kept avoiding her gaze. 

When they’d headed out to the next set of corridors to clear, Sypha made a point of pulling Alucard aside as Trevor strode ahead with his wheelbarrow.

“Alucard, are you alright? You seem really tense. You know you can talk to us if there’s something on your mind, don’t you?”

“Ah-I’m. Fine, thank you Sypha.” She looked completely unconvinced. Alucard grasped for an explanation that would satisfy her.

“I had some bad dreams. Just. Didn’t sleep very much.” He watched her face carefully to see if the lie had worked. 

“If you need some company in the night Alucard, just let me know.” She put a hand on his arm and gave it a squeeze. 

“Well, thank you... We should catch up with Belmont, probably.” 

Today’s cleaning tasks were a less arduous task than the hallway had been, since they were more contained and involved fewer miscellaneous body parts. There were, however, more holes in the walls which they would need equipment and possibly professional help to deal with. Alucard tried to stay away from Trevor most of the day, rather than push his strained temper and invite more interrogation from Sypha. Mostly it even worked.

The exceptions to that stood out. 

Trevor had slipped from a parapet and Alucard had caught him before he hit the ground. It made sense at the time that his heart had pounded so loudly that Alucard had almost missed the stricken look on Trevor’s face, but for the remainder of the afternoon his pulse had leaped every time he passed or looked at Alucard. Their arms brushed while making dinner and Trevor fully jumped in his seat and hid his face. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's just terrible when your night-time library brooding session is interrupted by monsters.

At bedtime Alucard shut himself in his room for only a few minutes before again grabbing his book and blanket and returning to the small library so he could pretend Sypha wasn’t even trying to share Trevor’s bed tonight. He tucked himself into a big, wing-backed armchair with his feet curled up under himself and the blanket over his shoulders. Like he had when he was little, and his father was telling him stories.

His treacherous brain didn’t take long to drift from the words on the book’s pages to a recap of the day. Sypha’s eyes filled with concern for him, Trevor’s hand grasping her arm to support her as she climbed on some furniture to reach something high on the wall. That stung. He’d looked the perfect gentleman beside her. 

Alucard might need some more engaging reading matter.

He took to browsing the shelves, rejecting texts on the motion of objects as too dry, medical texts as too squishy… what was that noise?

It came again, banging noises from downstairs. Shouting too? Alucard zipped through the castle, leaving a rapidly dissipating trail of red light behind him. 

He opened the doors to find two people standing on the front steps, dressed in travelling clothes and incoherent with terror. One of them was bleeding from a cut on his face. 

“What-” Alucard began, and was immediately interrupted.

“Sir please, we were attacked, I think they’re still following…”

“Come in, come in.” he stood to the side and beckoned them quickly through the door before looking out into the night to see if he could spot the attackers. A gang of night creatures emerged from the woods, obviously on the travellers’ trail. Of course. And at two in the fucking morning so Alucard was completely unarmed. Of course!

He slammed the door shut and turned to his newest guests. 

“Follow me.” He said, and broke into a run towards the bedrooms.

“Sypha, Trevor! Wake up!” He shouted, pounding on the door of Trevor’s bedroom. The door opened a moment later to reveal Trevor, flushed and soft with sleep, hair sticking up like he’d been pulled through a hedge backwards.

“Fuck’s going on, Alucard-” 

“We’ve got company, get armed.” That obviously connected to something instinctual because Trevor immediately squared his shoulders and looked ready to fight.

“Did you see how many?”

“About a half dozen, coming from the woods.” Alucard spotted that behind him, Sypha was throwing on a spare cloak from the wardrobe. Trevor, on the other hand, only grabbed the sword belt hanging beside the door and took off down the corridor in his chemise and drawers. 

“I’ll see you up there!” he shouted behind him. 

Alucard guided the guests into his own bedroom and grabbed his sword, instructing them to stay put. Sypha emerged at the same time he did.

“Hold tight.” He shouted, grabbing her around the waist and whisking them both to the entrance hall fast enough to catch up to Trevor, opening the castle doors to six hungry-looking night creatures.

Sypha stamped her foot and summoned walls of ice around the doorway to block off access to the rest of the castle. As the first creature launched itself at Trevor he wrapped his whip around its ankles, crashing it into the door lintel, and used its momentum to catapult himself into the air above it to come down, sword in hand, directly on to its head. 

One with huge, leathery wings cantered through the doorway to snap at Sypha but she filled its face with a dozen needles of ice, driving it back down the steps. Alucard slashed at another, and saw Trevor take a flying leap from above the doorway. He flicked his wrist and the end of the whip wrapped around one creature’s horns to pull it off balance, as Trevor swung by and sliced open the face of another. It howled and Trevor freed his whip to bring it round and rip the thing’s throat out. 

The horned one stumbled, leaving it open for Alucard to run it through as Sypha incinerated another and gave Trevor a pillar of ice to vault off in a single, fluid movement. The winged one had launched itself upward at the same time and it and Trevor collided in the air. It flicked his sword from his hand and they crashed into the earth in a tangle of limbs.

Trevor came out on top of it and punched it in the side of the head with the butt of the whip. It bucked its hips and flung him off, then scrambled toward him, only stopped when the whip wrapped around one of its wings.

“Would one of you throw me my sword or take this thing’s  _ fucking _ head off!” He bellowed. 

Alucard skidded under a creature that had just pounced at him to fling his own sword at the winged one. He flicked Trevor’s sword into the air with his toe and launched it towards him.

Trevor grabbed it from the air with his left hand as his right untangled the whip from the collapsing corpse in front of him. 

Alucard turned toward the creature he’d just avoided to see a shaft of ice pierce its skull, and Sypha drop her hands as it fell. 

“Are there any more, Alucard?” He strained his senses to check for any more and found the woods as quiet and empty as they ought to be. 

“No, that seems to be all.” He turned to look at Trevor, who was looking in dismay at a tear across the front of his chemise. “Ah - you’re bleeding…”

“Is it definitely my blood?” Trevor asked, raising his hand to the cut Alucard was indicating on his cheek. He hissed when he touched it. “Hm, it seems so. Damn.” He stifled a little shiver. “We should probably go back inside?”

Sypha dispelled the ice walls and closed the doors. 

They walked back to the bedrooms and Alucard steered the humans towards his own room rather than letting them retire to theirs.

“I have some first aid kit; if you two make yourselves comfortable I’ll settle our guests down and patch you up.”

The travellers had perched themselves on the couch that stood in the furthest corner from both the window and the door. The one who hadn’t been visibly hurt jumped to her feet when they all came into the room.

“Are they gone?” She asked, wild eyed. 

“They have been dealt with.” Alucard reassured her. He directed Sypha to sit Trevor down on the bed, and sat at the dressing table, grabbing a small box from a drawer. She wrapped a blanket round Trevor as Alucard turned first, to their guests. 

“What happened?” He opened the box and pulled out a roll of linen, a couple of jars and some scissors. He beckoned to the man and inspected the cut on his scalp.

“We were on the road, and they just came out of nowhere.” He said.

“Sypha, there’s a little water in that bowl on the side there, could you warm it for me?” He turned back to the man.

“You were just, travelling, at night? Have you not heard any of the news from the larger towns?”

“We thought it’d been quieter the last few nights” The woman said. “We were just trying to save a little time.” Sypha handed Alucard the warmed water and he dipped a length of the linen in it, and began cleaning the man’s cut. 

“This is a pretty shallow cut. It looks to me like it will heal up without any problems. Keep it clean and seek help if it starts to throb.” He set aside the bloodied piece of fabric. “There are still things out there that will attack in the night. Don’t risk it again, please.”

“Next time you won’t find people as well qualified to help.” Sypha agreed. 

“Your turn, Belmont.” Alucard said. He turned back to the travellers. “Once I’ve sorted out this half-clothed disaster you may use this bedroom for the night.” Trevor sat down on the couch in front of him, bringing his blanket with him, and the travellers obligingly moved over to the bed and started to take off cloaks and retrieve things from their pack to make ready to sleep. 

“Some of this will sting.” Alucard said, doing his best impression of the soothing voice his mother used on difficult patients. He cleaned the cut on Trevor’s cheek, then began to dab a greenish ointment on to it from one of the jars. 

“Ow fuck!” Trevor swore as the stuff bit at his broken skin. “You’re not helping me feel less vulnerable about having a…” His eyes glanced in the direction of their guests. “Having  _ you _ cleaning blood off my face.”

“I know, but it will prevent infection and help it heal faster.” Alucard soothed.

“Well. I hope it doesn’t scar. A few can make a man look quite dignified but I don’t want to make a habit of it.” 

Alucard smiled and his eyes flicked up from the cut to meet Trevor’s gaze. He heard Trevor’s pulse leap, then they both looked away again. 

“That should do the trick.” Alucard said, packing away the medicines. 

“Um, I don’t suppose you have a spare I could borrow?” Trevor asked, indicating his torn undershirt. “This one’s a bit more ventilated than I like.”

Alucard reached into a chest under the bed and pulled out a fresh one. 

“Ideally don’t go fighting monsters in this one, I’d like it back in one piece.”

Trevor stood, and pulled off the torn garment as though he wasn’t in a room with four other people who hadn’t said whether or not they wanted to see his naked torso. His tanned skin was crossed with dozens of small scars. 

Alucard found himself very focused on the way his muscles moved as he raised the hand holding the old shirt.

“Anyone think this can be repaired?” 

“I can have a look at it” the woman traveller volunteered. “I might even have something I can patch it with.” Trevor handed it over. 

Alucard saw Sypha rake her eyes over his chest and bite her lip. She glanced over, catching Alucard’s eye, and waggled her eyebrows at him. 

Trevor dropped the new chemise over his head.

“Well, I suppose we should leave you to sleep.” Alucard said.

They left the travellers to bed down. Once they got out into the corridor, Trevor asked;

“If you’ve given them your bed, where are you sleeping Alucard?”

“I- wasn’t really sleeping anyway.” Alucard admitted. “I’ll just, go back to reading I suppose.”

“I’m sure you could join us…” Sypha offered. Trevor looked at her, eyes wide. 

“There’s no need for that.” Alucard said in a rush. “I’ll see you in the morning. “ And he turned and swept away back towards the library. 

Faintly, as he increased the distance from them, he heard Sypha say;

“I’m worried about him.”

Alucard found his way back to the wing-backed chair by the fire but his mind was too busy to concentrate on reading. The pattern of the fight was replaying in his mind. It was so easy to forget, when he was being a curmudgeonly bastard, that Trevor was a devastatingly effective fighter. Belmonts had always bred them tough and trained them tougher. 

The lingering image of his thighs gripping that night creature as he punched it would not leave Alucard alone. Nor would Sypha’s suggestive eyebrow waggle. 

She had very baldly been enjoying the view. He supposed she and Trevor were - ugh -  _ familiar _ enough with one another now that it would have been no source of embarrassment if he had noticed her looking him over. 

Alucard supposed he was beginning to have some idea what she saw in him, when he wasn’t being a shit. He could begrudgingly admit to himself, if no one else, that he had been impressed when they’d fought one another in his chamber under Gresit. His speed and strategic ability was considerable, and he had to credit that that “dear God please don’t let the vampire’s guts ruin my tunic” line had been pretty funny. 

The way Trevor had looked at him then, eyes bright, cheeks flushed, panting and full of bloodlust. Alucard tried to back away from that thought but like a hole in a tooth he returned to prod it again. 

Sypha had suggested he join them… would that be of interest? How would the choreography of it be negotiated between them all? He was fully ready to acknowledge that he wanted Sypha. She could be blunt and she hardly had the manners of a lady but if anything that was part of her appeal, along with her beauty, intelligence, humour and absolute savagery. He supposed, if one had a masochistic streak, she might be pleased to indulge it. 

And that look Trevor had given him at the end of the first fight. That suggested, perhaps, he had that sort of a streak. 

God, what a concept. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first time I've written a fight scene and I think I checked 10 times I killed the right number of monsters.   
> It was very much motivated by the mental image of Trevor Belmont fighting wicked beasties in his undies.
> 
> in the next instalment; honest-to-goodness communication!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The one where they practise some communication.

Dawn brought Alucard back to the kitchen. He could pretend this was the everyday routine now. The guests arrived with Sypha before he finished boiling water for her tisane so he offered them some too. The woman sat at the table with a cup, and a heel of bread and worked on repairing Trevor’s torn chemise. That, unfortunately, reminded Alucard of that fabric lifting as Trevor swung from a night creature’s horns, revealing a taut sliver of his stomach and the crest of his pelvis. 

Alucard spilled his drink. 

They’d finished clearing up the mess before Trevor arrived and Alucard was grateful not to have to find an explanation for it. They still found excuses to bicker over breakfast, but it took a more amicable form than it had in previous days.

After making sure everyone had been appropriately fed and watered, and the repaired chemise had been handed over, they sent their guests on their way. 

“Thank you, again.” The woman said as they said their goodbyes. Sypha and Trevor were off to one side with her husband, so Sypha could collect a last few snatches of stories before they left.

The woman saw Alucard looking over at them. 

“Good luck with your uh... companions. “ She said.

“I’m sorry?”

“Your lady and gentleman over there. The entanglement between you all - you’ll make sense of it I’m sure.”

“Uh, right.” Alucard didn’t know what to say to that. He couldn’t think of anything that would have given her that impression, let alone enough to say anything. Sypha and Trevor brought her husband over and they all said their goodbyes.

“Where shall we start cleaning today?” Sypha asked.

“Honestly, after last night maybe it’s time for a rest, just for the day…” Alucard felt terribly weary, and the idea of watching Trevor and Sypha co-operating in the tidying was rather more than he could take. 

“Is there something you’d like to do instead?” 

"a walk might be nice - we've been cooped up indoors for a while." 

They set off into the woods that comprised most of the abandoned Belmont estate. Trevor was twitchy and before long he insisted on heading off in a different direction to have some time to think. When Alucard turned to watch his retreating back, Sypha placed a hand at his elbow. Her brow was furrowed. 

"I'm sure he'll survive on his own for a few hours, Sypha." 

"Survival alone is  _ not _ the point." she was pouting just a little, and it struck Alucard once again how incredibly appealing the expressiveness of her face was.

"It's sweet that you're so concerned about him." 

She gave him a spectacularly unimpressed look. 

"You'll forgive me for pointing out that that doesn't sound very sincere." Her voice had a faintly threatening edge. Alucard could concede that his comment had sounded more passive aggressive than was diplomatic. 

"What's the matter, Alucard." he squirmed under the intense look she had pinned him with. Was there any point at all trying to lie again? She raised an eyebrow. Alucard gave in. 

"I am… I suppose… Struggling a little with not… Not being the one you've chosen…?" The eyebrow dropped so now she was simply scowling. 

"I wouldn't have expected you to insist on it being one or the other, considering. " She seemed so disappointed in him.

"Considering what?!" 

"Do you really think I'm that unobservant!" she laughed. "I'm here, sharing space with you two every day for  _ weeks _ and you think you can pretend you’re not interested at all?" 

"It's not that  _ I _ … do you think that Trevor would be one to share? With  _ me _ ?" 

Her expression visibly softened. She took a deep breath and fixed him again with a steely gaze. 

“I wouldn’t say I know how Trevor feels, but sometimes I see him gazing at you and he looks _lost_ , Alucard.”

“That’s funny, I’d have said the same about how he looks at you." Alucard felt like he was being asked to believe the sky wasn't blue. "But - he’s  _ repulsed _ by me.”

“Why do you think that?”

“The way his pulse increases when I’m close to him, the way he pulls away if our skin touches…” He was met with a sceptical tilt of her head. 

“I have a suspicion you’ve misread the signals… Wait! " she jabbed his chest with a finger. "if you can hear our heartbeats why did you think I felt differently about you?”

“I overheard you two talking in the library, about how my sadness is like a bottomless well? No amount of physical attraction should make up for feeling like all the joy is being swallowed.” He hoped she didn't notice the catch in his voice. 

"Oh, Alucard…" She reached for his hand. "So much has changed since then, you didn't think? …" He dropped his chin, trying to avoid the intensity of her eyes. He really had thought. "I'm so sorry. It wasn't my place to talk about you like that in the first place. And - you're so much more alive than you were then." 

He grasped her hand between both of his, raised it to his mouth and kissed her fingers. 

"I'm sorry I've been so sullen." 

"I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about it all sooner." 

They drifted back to the castle, and to the kitchen, where Alucard put the kettle on. The quiet was companionable for a good while, each of them sneaking glances at the other like youths attending a ball. 

Trevor, of course, interrupted. He stomped down the stairs and clattered into a chair. 

“You know, it’d be  _ so nice  _ if just, just destroying the house had been enough!”

“What did you find, Trevor?” Sypha waved a hand behind her at Alucard, who took it as a prompt to make him a drink.

“They’ve left things around the woods. Talismans, warnings - like the place is cursed because of what we were doing.” Alucard set a cup down in front of Trevor. The moment of quiet stretched as they all reached for something to say. 

“The people of Wallachia… do tend to disrespect things they do not understand.” Alucard said. Trevor looked up at him from beneath sullen, heavy brows. “Could you be persuaded to believe they think they cursed themselves by trying to stop you?”

“Hah! Nice try.” Trevor’s laugh was humourless but he sat up from his slump a little. Alucard smiled at him. 

“Nor me.” He said; that brought a real chuckle from Trevor, which made Sypha smile, and the heavy mood began to slowly dissipate. Trevor took a sip from his cup. He swore and slammed it down too hard where it was hotter than he’d expected and the cup toppled over. 

“Shit, fuck!” The cup rolled off the table and smashed on to the stone floor. 

“Fuck.” Alucard agreed, and turned to grab things to clear up with. He handed Trevor a cloth to mop the spillage with and began to sweep up the ceramic shards from the floor. It took barely any time between the two of them, but Trevor still seemed annoyed at his own clumsiness.

“God, I’m sorry, that was stupid.” Trevor, apparently with no thought at all, reached out to the hand Alucard held the dustpan in. He made only the briefest contact before his brain appeared to catch up with what his limbs were doing, and he snatched his hand back, heart racing, blood rushing to colour his cheeks. Alucard averted his eyes from Trevor’s distress

“I’ll go and dispose of this.” 

He heard Trevor drop back into his seat and groan as he left the room. 

"I'm going to die. One of us is going to kill me and it'll be a kindness." Sypha's answering giggle echoed up the stairs. 

  
  


"Sypha, can I ask you something?" Trevor's voice floated up the kitchen stairs. Alucard paused to listen, cursing himself for it. 

"Mm?" 

"When we talked about being in love over dinner the other day… You said you'd changed your mind about some things since Greşit." There was an extended pause. "I just wondered what you meant?"

Alucard floated down a few steps to be sure of hearing her answer. 

"I meant that - nothing I've experienced before has compared to - well, to spending time getting to know the both of you. I felt so desolate to have to leave my family but seeing you come into yourselves as we've fought and won… Nothing before compares…" A cup scraped on the wood of the table. 

“Home has always been the people I kept company with and I’ve never felt more at home. I don’t know, maybe that doesn’t make sense…”

“No I - I think I know what you mean.” A chair scraped. Perhaps he was reaching out to her. 

“You uh, the both of you…” There was a catch in Trevor’s voice and Alucard was gripping the stones in the wall beside him so tightly his fingers ached, remembering being told that eavesdropping was never a good idea. 

“I feel like I can relax with you in a way I haven’t in I don’t even know how long.”

“Oh, Trevor.” Sypha sighed. “You’re going to have to talk to him soon.”

“I know, I know.” Trevor sounded absolutely miserable at the prospect. “I just… I can’t begin to imagine how that conversation goes! - ‘Hi Alucard, remember how we tried to murder each other when we first met? I thought it was pretty hot actually’ - How’s he going to take that!?”

“You might have to work on the line a little bit but - better that you say something than we all keep tiptoeing around each other. Right?”

“It’s easier for you, you’ve got so much more to offer.” He sounded muffled, and Alucard strained for a moment to work out if he was hiding his head under his own arm or if Sypha was holding him close.

They had gone quiet and Alucard realised he was going to have to pretend he’d just come in and had heard absolutely nothing. He took a breath to steady himself and pulled himself up in what he hoped was his usual, regal manner. Close enough not to arouse suspicion at least.

He swept into the kitchen with a;

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

Trevor had his head on the table, and Sypha was running her hands through the shorter hair on the back of his head. 

“Alucard! I’d been wondering where you’d got to.” She sounded so pleased to see him that Alucard almost laughed. 

“I drifted off for a little while considering what to make for dinner.”

“Food?” Trevor volunteered. Sypha gave the little hairs at the nape of his neck a little tug and he sighed and squirmed. 

“You know, I think I’d like to get a little more tidying done before we eat, do you mind if we do that while you cook?” Sypha asked.

“I’ve no objection to that.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ty to everyone who's left kudos or commented, you're keeping me motivated to find my way through the tricky bits. 
> 
> Next chapter should be the final one so continue delivering that validation ;) ;) ;)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It seems once you get into the habit of communicating it'll just keep happening.

Dinner wasn't a very talkative affair. Sypha was alert, tapping her fingers and feet intermittently as she ate, and searching each of Alucard and Trevor’s faces for something as she chewed each mouthful. Trevor ate less than usual, and his hand barely left his wine glass even though he took the whole duration of the meal to finish its contents.

Alucard felt on edge. He felt like he was sat at the front of a thunderstorm, in the moments of syrupy, stifling air before the rain. He hoped that was it. The thought of days more of this made his stomach turn. 

Sypha cleared her plate and stood up to take it to the sink. When she turned back to the table she rested her hands on the back of her chair and bounced on her toes, looking from Trevor to Alucard and back again. 

“My hair is  _ so _ full of plaster dust, I just have to take a bath…” Another little drumbeat of her fingers. She bit her lip to try and disguise a little smile, but the glint in her eye gave it away. “You two be nice to each other.” And she directed a tiny, significant quirk of her eyebrows at Trevor before she left the room.

He looked down at his still half-full plate with every muscle tensed. Alucard could hear his heart hammering and tried to remember how to breathe. 

The lack of talk was oppressive but Alucard couldn’t make his mind suggest anything useful to break the silence as it was rigidly focused on the tiny flexions in Trevor’s hands on the table. 

Finally, Trevor cleared his throat and spoke.

“It’ll be weird, heading out on the road again…” He only barely managed to flicker his gaze across the table to make eye contact with Alucard. “Thought it’d be weirder being in one place for so long but…” His heartbeat seemed to settle a little as he got the words out. It seemed to Alucard that they were on the knife edge of that weather front, and he could almost smell the rain. He rubbed his thumb against a rough corner of a fingernail to ground himself.

“On your travels - you’ll come back to visit me sometimes, won’t you?”

“Wh- of course we’ll come to visit.” Trevor responded so quickly it was almost surprising. “I don’t think anything would stop Sypha from wanting to stay on the move but she’s bound to want to see you.”

“What about you, Belmont?” Alucard looked across the table, silently urging Trevor to meet his eye.

“Mm?” He looked up and didn’t look away.

“Will you want to see me?”

“Oh.” His pulse noticeably increased, and Alucard saw his Adam’s apple bob in his long throat. “I mean I - we’ve got closer over the - and it’s nice to have someone around who isn’t quite so perky as Sypha is all the time…”

“If I tell you that I  _ will _ want you to visit me, will you stop trying to talk around the point?” Alucard’s eyes had gone piercing as he leaned over the table.

“If you’re just trying to get me to admit something so you can mock me for it I’m going to stake you while you sleep.” A tiny hint of a smile was on Trevor’s lips and the pitter patter of raindrops began. 

“I can hear how your heart races when I’m near you; I’d have been mocking you for it for a long time, if that was what I wanted to do.”

“So I don’t need to tell you anything at all.”

Alucard dropped his eyes to the table, and furrowed his brow. 

“I want to know if it’s more than a physical reaction.”

Trevor gaped in amazement at him. 

“You’re a model of martial perfection, you’re  _ funny _ , the way Sypha reacts to you makes me feel warm all over I - yes, it’s more than just physical.” He was blushing furiously but held Alucard’s gaze. Alucard sat back in his chair and huffed out a surprised little breath.

“I really thought I was going to have to get you drunker to hear that.” Alucard could feel that his own face was very warm, and he could hardly hear anything over his own thundering heartbeat.

“You didn’t have any plan for what to do with this information, did you?" Trevor really was smiling now.

“I thought I’d have longer to think about it.”

“Well, unless Sypha has been waiting outside to pounce on us - which alright, I wouldn’t put past her - but unless she is, you’ll have to think faster.” Trevor settled himself back in his chair and put a boot up on the table, which Alucard felt sure was calculated to wind him up. 

“Get your feet off the table, you slovenly heathen!”

Trevor looked at the offending boot, then at Alucard, lifting his chin and smirking.

“Make me.” With a clap of thunder, Alucard had moved around the furniture and hoisted Trevor from the table to pin him against the chimney breast.

“Is that what you wanted?” he snarled.

“Yes” Trevor breathed, and dropped his hands to either side of Alucard’s face. His heartbeat was rapid but steady, but Alucard felt his own heart flutter as Trevor ran a calloused thumb across his cheekbone.

“C’mere, you” Trevor said, and Alucard offered no resistance as he was pulled in close. Trevor huffed slightly as their noses touched, then gently pressed a kiss to Alucard’s bottom lip, ran the tip of his tongue along it, then as Alucard’s lips parted, nipped it with his teeth. 

Alucard hadn’t considered that he might be so… tender.

He pressed himself more firmly against Trevor, exploring with his own tongue, feeling hands tangling in his hair, and Trevor moving to wrap his legs around Alucard’s waist. 

Alucard had forgotten he was holding them both up so quickly that he was startled, and was about to pull away when Trevor’s thighs tensed, gripping him tight. 

Trevor leant his head back against the wall and let out a deep sigh. Alucard, unthinkingly, surged forward to place his lips against the pulse point. There was a hitch in Trevor’s breath and Alucard moved his free hand to stroke Trevor’s head in what he hoped was a reassuring gesture, muttering;

“Don’t worry, I don’t bite without an invitation.”

“I thought you two had gone suspiciously quiet.” came a bright voice from the doorway of the kitchen. Alucard turned to see Sypha leaning on the doorframe smiling warmly at them. He could hardly imagine how ridiculous they must look, flushed and panting against each other. He looked back at Trevor and found the sight a lot less ridiculous than he’d expected. He looked almost as if he’d already been fucked as he dropped his head to his shoulder to look past Alucard and greet Sypha.

“I thought you’d said you were going to give me a bit longer?”

“It doesn’t look like I needed to. You’ve talked?” Her eyes surveyed them both and she licked her lips. Alucard, a little sheepish, shifted away from the chimney breast and put Trevor down. Trevor, apparently not sheepish at all, ran a hand up from Alucard’s wrist to grasp his elbow. He was so close that Alucard could feel his body heat in a stripe up his side.

“Also I couldn’t find a towel.” Sypha grinned. 

“I’ll come and find one for you.” Alucard moved forward and Trevor came with him, unwilling to let him go. 

“You know, I think I could do with a wash.” Trevor said. Alucard wasn’t sure he’d heard Trevor  _ offer  _ to bathe before. Sypha’s face was settling into an expression of desire, and Alucard thought of the way she’d run her eyes over Trevor when he’d changed after the fight…

“And there’s room in that big bath. Alucard, would you like to join us?” Alucard blushed. He looked to Trevor, who nodded his agreement to Sypha’s suggestion.

“I uh, I’ll get some towels and join you shortly then.” Alucard felt like a paper boat being drawn under water by a river eddy. Trevor’s hand stroked down his forearm as he moved to Sypha’s side. They gave Alucard a long look before beginning to move.

“I’ll be right there.”

The castle’s biggest bathroom was host to a communal sunken bath that could comfortably seat six people, eight if they were very friendly. If they were as friendly as Trevor and Sypha were being when Alucard arrived with towels and lotions and a comb, maybe more.

Sypha was sat with Trevor leaning back between her thighs, massaging soap into his scalp. His eyes were closed and a comfortable smile sat on his lips. Only his shoulders were above the water, but Sypha was barely in it to her waist.

Her figure was the sort Alucard had seen described as gamine, lightly built and on the boyish side. He’d think her fragile if he didn’t know better. She leaned over to scoop clean water over Trevor’s head to rinse him, and caught sight of Alucard with his stack of supplies. She patted Trevor’s shoulder to make him look.

“Don’t just stand around Alucard, you’re making the place look untidy.” Trevor said, and sighed back into Sypha’s ministrations as she poured the clean water across his head. 

“Bring me that comb once you’re undressed won’t you?” Sypha asked. Alucard hadn’t really thought about undressing in front of them. He paused, long enough for them to notice something was up.

“Alucard, are you shy?” Trevor sounded incredulous. “I thought you said you’d been away to school, they didn’t have communal baths?”

“It’s different when you know people are watching!” Alucard was painfully aware that they were both looking at him, waiting to see him. It made him feel far too vulnerable, even after everything, like a fool. Sypha got up and walked over to him, leaving a trail of wet footprints behind her. Alucard watched a droplet of water slide down the length of her leg, tracing the line of the muscle and sinew.

“What if we help?” She raised her hands to his collar, began loosening the laces of his shirt. Alucard stilled her hands with his own. 

“We still have an audience.” He turned his head to Trevor, who had cupped his hands behind his head to watch. 

“Trevor, you’re going to have to help too.” Sypha jerked her head to beckon him. Trevor sighed and started to stand.

“Alright, alright, I suppose at least it’s a chance to find out how he gets in and out of those ridiculous leather trousers.” Alucard considered protesting the relative ridiculousness of his trousers, but was distracted by how completely unabashed Trevor was to be completely naked in front of them. He had stretched on getting up, then looked over to check that Alucard was watching, before prowling around the bath like he was approaching something already caught in a snare. Alucard considered his situation. If he didn’t know these two meant him no harm he supposed it could be considered a snare. Trevor pressed himself against Alucard’s back.

“The leather trousers are ridiculous, but they do look fantastic on you.” He said. 

“Ugh, God you’re all wet!” Alucard could feel the bathwater soaking through the back of his clothes where Trevor was pressed fully against him. 

Sypha giggled. Alucard released her hands and she began to tug at his shirt.

“Come on, arms up. Let me at you!” Trevor’s hands were working on unbuttoning Alucard’s trousers, but he paused as the shirt came off to lay kisses across his bared shoulders. He was struggling with the buttons, trying to reach from behind, so Alucard opted to do them himself, flicking them open with a single movement that made Trevor curse him for being such a slick bastard. 

That felt good, like he had something of the upper hand again, but then Sypha was pulling the trousers down and they were just too tight to step out of elegantly, so he had to lean on Trevor’s shoulder to extricate himself from them. 

He froze, just for a beat, now he was down to his drawers. He supposed Sypha must have seen it, because she reached her arms up and pulled him into a kiss.

Alucard had been impressed by how well Trevor and Sypha worked together several times since they’d set out on their quest but it was a little galling to have it turned on him, as Trevor used the distraction to relieve him of his drawers. 

He spun around, indignant, but Trevor pulled him by the hip, tight against himself, and Sypha pressed up behind him, and their skin was damp and warm, and he was now undressed. 

“Bathtime then.” Sypha said. Her hands had wrapped around him to sit on his stomach. 

Trevor ran a thumb up the crest of Alucard’s hipbone. Alucard looked down at the thumb, traced the line of it with his eyes up Trevor’s arm, moisture glistening on the hairs, the outward curve of his bicep. Then across his chest and down, following the confluence of his hair down to where their hips and bellies were touching. 

“Bath time then.” Alucard agreed, and he was surprised by how raw he sounded already. 

Soap was a tremendous excuse to lay hands on one another. Alucard ran slippery hands over Trevor’s back and chest while Sypha combed his hair, and Alucard noted for later reference how he responded to rougher pulls on it with happy sighs. 

Sypha insisted Alucard take his place once she’d finished, so he nestled in to her lap and she worked her way through his hair while Trevor trimmed his beard. 

Alucard leant his head on Sypha’s thigh and watched Trevor.

“I was so jealous that you wanted to go to bed with him, I couldn’t stay in my room...” Sypha's hand paused on Alucard's head. 

“Alucard, I went to him because I can’t sleep alone, we haven’t been-” She gestured vaguely with the comb. 

"Oh - I had assumed…" Alucard felt the blush creep across his cheeks. 

"Strictly off-limits til we knew you were on board." Trevor ran his razor over his cheek. "Honestly it's very flattering that you'd be jealous of me at all." 

"My turn for a hair wash!" Sypha said, splashing down beside Alucard and handing him the soap. He took his place behind her and she twined her hands around his calves as he began to massage suds into her scalp. 

Trevor finished his trim and came back to sit opposite them in the warm water, taking in the scene like a lord looking over his estate. 

An idea crept up Alucard's spine.

"I have to admit, I did overhear a little of your conversation in the kitchen earlier." Trevor looked alarmed. 

"What, exactly?" he asked. Sypha's hand tightened on Alucard's leg. 

"Mm, let me think, what was it?" Alucard tapped his lip theatrically. "Hi Alucard, remember how we tried to murder each other when we first met? I thought it was pretty hot actually’ - something like that?" 

Trevor flushed and squirmed. 

"if it helps;" Alucard leaned close over Sypha, making sure she caught and returned the glint in his eye, "I thought so too. Having you under me, vulnerable but still fighting." Trevor dropped his hands into his lap. His heart was thundering, and Alucard gave him a toothy smile. Sypha stroked a hand down Alucard's shin. 

"If you're finished with my hair, maybe we should all get dried off and take Trevor to bed." Alucard stroked her head and reached for the jug to rinse her hair. She stood, bracing her arms against Alucard’s legs, and stepped out of the water to get a towel. Alucard followed close behind her. 

She rubbed her towel over her wet hair, then looked at Trevor who had totally failed to move. The blush still perched in his cheeks.

“You’ll get more out of the experience if you come and join us, rather than sitting in the bath watching.” She wrapped the towel around herself securely, then looped a hand round the back of Alucard’s neck to pull him in for a kiss. When she let him, he pulled away;

“I think I know why he’s staying sat down - Trevor…” He tried to intone the name with every ounce of the seductive power that was his birthright. Trevor looked ready to agree to almost anything but he did not move.

Alucard grabbed a towel and moved over to hand it to Trevor. 

“We’ll avert our eyes while you cover your modesty then.” He ran his eyes hungrily over Trevor’s bare chest again; “For now.” He turned his head and nodded at Sypha to do the same. She rolled her eyes and raised a hand to block her view.

“I note you haven’t covered anything of yours yet.” Trevor said, snatching the towel from Alucard’s hand. Alucard allowed him a few moments to secure it before looking back. 

“I wanted to take care of you first.” He extended a hand and pulled Trevor in close to him. The layers of fabric between them did little for Trevor’s “modesty” that way. 

Alucard took a kiss before grabbing his own towel to stave off the chill as they made their way back to their rooms. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that we have the conclusion of my first multi-chapter work!  
> Ok so I'll probably add a sexy epilogue in a few days.
> 
> This chapter featuring me challenging myself to make things as horny as possible without feeling the need to raise the rating. 
> 
> thank you lovely people who have left kudos and comments!

**Author's Note:**

> Gods I love these disaster bisexuals.


End file.
